The postgraduate programme of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) will be overhauled this academic session.

As part of the change, the academic council of the institute has decided to club the courses in three existing groups under one head to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and research.

The groups on environment, sociology and regional development will be merged and known as public policy and management.

“The decision to bring the three groups under one head is part of the overhaul of the institute’s postgraduate programme. The merger is aimed at encouraging collaboration among the groups,” said Saibal Chattopadhyay, the dean (programme initiatives) of IIM Calcutta.

The faculty of all three groups, as well as of the Centre for Development and Environment Policy, will be part of the new group.

Apart from the existing subjects, the public policy and management group will focus on public-private infrastructure, telecom and information and communication technology.

It will address challenges of policy innovation, governance for public service delivery and relationship between government and industry.

The faculty members of the group will also focus on management of institutions for urban and rural development, business solutions for poverty alleviation, environment and sustainable energy policy, education management, healthcare policy and management, international geopolitics, legal aspects of business, intellectual property rights, management of NGOs and emerging models of shared governance.

“Public policy and governance have become important in today’s world and B-schools across the world are incorporating the new domains,” said Manish Thakur, the coordinator of the public policy and management group.

The group will offer research options in related fields for the faculty members and will also take up consultancy for policy analysis and programme evaluation. It will float elective courses on related subjects and offer new courses for the fellowship programme.

The group will offer core courses in Indian economic and political history, Indian social structure, Indian legal system and environment and development.